Why emergency crews will rush to Bundaberg Airport

A SIMULATED collision between two aircraft at the Bundaberg Airport will form the basis for an emergency response exercise at the airport on Thursday.

Exercise "King Air Down" will involve emergency services including police, ambulance, fire and emergency services and state emergency service personnel and key airport staff.

Council's Tourism and Regional Growth spokesman Cr Greg Barnes said the exercise was in accordance with a requirement of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to conduct a full field exercise to test the airports emergency response plans and strategies.

"The exercise will be premised around a scenario involving two aircraft colliding while conducting simultaneous landings on the airports intersecting runways.

"To assist with the recreation of the accident scene there will be 13 role players participating to fully test the involvement of emergency services."

Cr Barnes said an objective of the exercise was to involve airport staff in decision making and response actions that are required during an emergency situation.

Council's Disaster Management spokesman Cr Dave Batt said the exercise will also test the capabilities of joint response agencies and their plans.

"This is an opportunity to highlight the effectiveness of current arrangements as well as testing communication and inter-agency relationships which are vital at any incident of this nature where multiple emergency personnel are involved.